The Monster iPod Auto Adapter

When I play my iPods in the car, they have to sound good. I mean good! To me the only way to do this is to have complete iPod integration with my car. My friends tease me and call me crazy, but hey, I wouldn’t be the Click Chick if I thought differently.

This whole iPod integration thing was actually one of the biggest selling points on the car my husband and I purchased two years ago. All I have to do is plug my iPod into the glove compartment and voila! I can control my iPod with buttons on my steering wheel and see exactly what’s happening on my car’s digital display. And the sound - it’s awesome!

That’s pretty slick, but unfortunately we can’t afford to buy two of those particular cars, so for our second car an external option is necessary. I’ve tried many FM transmitters, and I usually ignore most iPod car adapters because there are too many of them around to pay attention to.

OK, so nothing can beat my full car-iPod integration, but at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Monster’s iCarplay Wireless 200 caught my attention because it won the CES Best of Innovations 2007 in the mobile audio category.

The iCarplay Wireless 200 allows you iPod and iPod nano users to play your tunes wirelessly through almost any FM station on your car radio while you simultaneously charge your iPod. Keeping it plugged into your car’s lighter allows your iPod to stay charged, and if it’s low on battery, it uses the Smart Digital Charger technology to rapidly charge it. Although there’s a cord to deal with, it’s worth it since it gives your iPod life. Most other FM devices don’t give you that option to charge, and you end up using up your iPod’s battery power. That’s not bad for a short drive, or a few short drives, but if you’re on the Mainland for a drive that lasts hours and hours, there’s no way your iPod will last that long, and it’s better to have the charging option.

The special feature about the Wireless 200 is that it has an exclusive AutoScan technology that automatically finds the clearest FM frequency that will catch your iPod’s tunes. This doesn’t mean it will change your radio station automatically, but it will find the three clearest stations and display them on your iPod. You then use the switch to select which you want to use, then tune your radio accordingly.

The device clearly displays all essential information on your iPod’s screen, and features a three-button control to directly access its features and settings. You have the option to program “favorite station” presets, and use the international mode for your next trip to Europe or Japan.

From personal experience, I know that with other FM transmitters, finding a clear frequency can be a pain sometimes. It becomes time-consuming and distracting, not a great thing to experience while driving. On most of the other ones I’ve tried, you hear lots of static, and you also need to install special software to be able to control it. One of my favorite things about the Wireless 200 is that it does not require any additional software. Just plug-and-play, and you’re set. I tested it with multiple iPods, including my 80 GB, my husband’s 20 GB and my nano. All worked flawlessly, and with almost no static.

The Monster iCarplay Wireless 200 may not be the full iPod-car integration that I know and love, but it’s the next best thing. You can find it at $99.95 at your nearest Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com) or Radio Shack (www.radioshack.com).

Testing Halo 3 On The Xbox 360 Elite

After my story back in January about how to become a Halo 3 beta tester, I’m proud to say that I was selected and am now one of a few thousand to test out Microsoft’s much coveted, notyet-released future Halo 3 game. The perfect combination is playing Halo 3 on the recently released Xbox 360 Elite. Apparently my playing Halo 3, among all my multiple video games and console platforms, is part of a growing trend for the “older” folks. I’m no kid, but you know from my previous game reviews that I totally fess up to enjoying these. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that.

In fact, “Gaming has emerged as a mainstream form of entertainment,” said Jim Takatsuka, regional executive for Microsoft. “Advances in graphics and online technologies, coupled with cinematic story lines, have completely changed the gaming experience, blurring the lines of the traditional user once based on age or gender.”

The Xbox 360 Elite is the latest addition to the Xbox family and yet another leap with Microsoft in leading the next-generation console war. Multiple people have asked me what makes it different from the regular Xbox 360. Well, it has a built-in hard drive that is six times bigger than its predecessor at 120 GB, and the largest available for a gaming console. That’s enough for a good-sized library of games, TV shows and music with which to entertain yourself. It also includes a HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) port, and it’s a sleek matte black color - the opposite of the previous white 360s.

With the exception of the HDMI port, the Elite is identical to the Xbox 360 Premium, and it includes all the cables you need to hook it up to your TV and home theater system. I like the fact that the HDMI output provides a single cable solution - digital audio and high definition, but the previous 360 could output HD video up to 1080p resolution only via component or VGA adapter.

Typically the HDTVs these days accept the highest resolutions via that wonderful HDMI input. I could see a noticeable difference playing the Halo 3 beta on my old 360 as opposed to the Elite. The picture was much sharper on the Elite than on my 360. My husband and I watched a couple of movies on the Elite just to see what it would look like, and those were sharp too.

Additionally, your Elite comes with one Xbox LIVE headset, one Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black), one HDMI cable, an Xbox LIVE Silver Membership and a one-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription.

Unfortunately the Wi-Fi adapter and HD-DVD drive are still sold separately, as is an extra controller.

Those of you who are considering making the leap from your current Xbox 360 to the Elite can use the Xbox 360 Elite Data Migration Kit. It gives you a simple option to transfer

everything from your old 20 GB Xbox 360 to your new 120 GB Xbox 360 Elite. Note that this only works one way (from 20 GB to 120 GB), but despite that, will make your transfer nearly flawless.

If you’re a concerned parent, don’t worry. If you remember my recent story on the Xbox 360’s parental controls, the Elite has all those same features to give you a safe gaming environment. See this link for all the details: www.xbox.com/isyourfamilyset

Overall, the only drawbacks I could see with the Elite are, as with the 360, it still has a huge power supply brick you have to hide among all your other plugs, the fan and drive are noisy, and the Wi-Fi adapter and HD-DVD drive are still sold separately. To me these issues are minor, and would not prevent me from buying an Elite if I was starting from scratch. I would recommend spending the extra $80 and buying the Elite if you do not have an Xbox 360 yet. But if you already have one, and do not want to upgrade it, at least buy the 120 GB detachable hard drive ($179.99) to give yourself more room.

Xbox 360 Elites are still difficult to come by, but I was able to find some in stock at Circuit City online at www.circuitcity.com for $479.99. For additional information on the Xbox 360 Elite and its upcoming games, check out www.xbox.com.

Webkinz For Cancer Patients

If you have young keiki, you’ve probably heard of Webkinz, the latest craze to take over the market. Although it launched about two years ago, Webkinz has recently become more and more popular, particularly among the 7- to 12-year-olds.

If you don’t know what Webkinz are, they are virtual pets, but sold as stuffed animals with a special ID code that you use to log into the website and build a virtual reality.

Personally, I’m a sucker for stuffed animals, so I melted when I first saw these.
They’re soooo cute! Despite that, the techie aspect of it, which it’s really about, reminds me of the virtual reality video game The Sims. When first registering, you do the usual, create a user name/password, then you can choose the sex, name it, and it tells you about your new pet, including favorite food and hobbies.

he nice thing about Webkinz is that it’s all web-based, as opposed to having to install a whole game on your computer. Along with the plush animal you buy, the game itself is soooo cute too! Right when you log in you’ll see a Happy, Health and Hunger percentage indicator. You can up these numbers by having your pet participate in different activities, games or by feeding it. If you feed it certain foods that are favorites you receive more points. Likewise, with the activities, if you have your pet participate in well-liked activities and games, you gain more points. If you have multiple pets, you can conveniently register them all under your one login name.

Evalani Exner was smart and jumped on the Webkinz bandwagon early. “I saw this as an up-and-coming trend long before these were popular, and the whole reason I started doing this was to help my friend with her cancer cause,” she says.

Exner sells Webkinz at various craft fairs around the island, and is passionate about these for her own keiki.

“Webkinz has a lot of great aspects for the kids. It teaches them responsibility with saving and spending money, and the quizzes you can take in there are good because it makes them think,” she adds. Exner also likes the fact that the games that are offered keep not only the kids occupied, but her as well.

As with Exner, I can see this game occupying hours of my time. Just fiddling with it for this story I spent a good six hours (if not more) taking my new cow through different rooms, feeding him and playing different games.

Additionally, you have your own room, which you need to furnish. When you play the

games within, you earn money so you can buy things such as furniture or clothes. If you have other friends in the Webkinz World, you can send them gifts or interact with them in the Webkinz Clubhouse. But not to worry, those areas are tightly controlled and offer pre-built phrases to prevent people from seeking out personal information. It does include rooms for you to attend parties, play games, sports, exercise, garden and more.

Overall, Webkinz combines the timeless fun of a plush toy with web interaction to give your keiki a virtual world to play in. Your kids as well as you will have loads of entertainment with this. It does become addicting. Also know that as a Canada-based company, in 2006, the Webkinz pets were awarded an iParenting Media Award and a Canadian Toy Testing Council Children’s Choice Award.

It seems local stores are sold out of Webkinz, but if you’re looking for it and want to help cancer patients, contact Evalani Exner at 499-2646 or divine-fruit@aol.com. She sells her Webkinz for $15 each. All profits from her Webkinz sales are donated to her friend Kara England/Time To Heal Massage (277-4536). England offers free massages to cancer patients, so the money donated helps make the service possible.

Otherwise, check out www.webkinz.com for more information on this wonderful family-oriented game.

Converting Old Vinyl Into MP3s With Ease

I know there are many of you out there who still have records and cassette tapes, and still regularly enjoy listening to your music that way. The younger generation may not even know what a record or a cassette tape is. In fact,I remember asking a friend’s daughter, “Do you know what a record player is?"She answered, “Someone in sports who breaks records."Of course, my friends present at the table all thought it was funny and burst out laughing,yet we brushed it off while trying not to feel old.

That in mind, when I was at MacWorld this year I couldn’t help but notice a big crowd of people huddled around the ADS booth. It turns out they were demonstrating the Instant Music for MAC,a device you can use to import your old vinyl records or cassette tapes into your computer. With it you can easily convert the songs on your records/cassettes into popular digital music formats such as MP3,AAC, WAV, WMA or Apple Lossless format (with iTunes) and save it on your computer.

Granted there are a few other devices out there that do the same thing, but ADS’ version seems to be extremely user-friendly, all the while solving the problem that many seem to have - what to do with your records or cassette tapes. The device is a little box that could almost fit into your pocket, and it comes with a 6-foot USB cable, 6-foot RCA double jack set and a Y RCA jack for connection to your stereo unit.You don’t have to worry about a sound card or expensive studio equipment since it’s pretty much plug and play.


Your old LPs will eventually become scratched up and your cassettes will probably dissolve into nothing over time, so converting them into a digital audio format will keep your mind at ease, and let you enjoy your good ol’ music forever. The box comes with Roxio CD Spin Doctor 3 software you install on your computer, and with this you can record from any analog audio source, including your TV, VCR, tape deck, reel-to-reel or a microphone.

If you want a good-quality recording, make sure the needle on your record player is good. If you hear lots of scratching noises, and your record looks good, it might be time for a new needle. Having a good, scratch-free record would be helpful as well (clean it if it is dirty). I noticed each minute of recording takes up about 10 MB of space, so make sure you have enough hard drive space,or set aside a good-sized external hard drive on which to save everything. If it’s easier, you can just burn your songs to CD too.

Overall, this is a great product to use to save your record or cassette collection,but keep in mind it could be very time-consuming to go through everything you have (depending on how big your library is). Just ensure you have the proper amount of time to sift through your collection. It would actually be a perfect project for a retiree or if you just have lots of time on your hands.

You can find ADS’Instant Music for MAC at www.adstech.com for $59. For you non-Mac users, don’t be scared away by its name - you can also find the regular Instant Music for $59 (for both PC and Mac).You can use this on Windows 98 and up, and any Mac OS X machine.

Getting Into The Speed Zone

For those of you who subscribe to Oceanic’s Road Runner for your Internet Service, there are a number of services available you may not know about. For starters, as a Road Runner subscriber, did you know you automatically have free access to a wireless Internet network, off-site storage or streaming radio?

The Internet wireless spots are called Road Runner Speed Zones, and come in handy when you’re on the road since there’s sure to be one near you. Here’s where you can find them: Tamarind Square (downtown Honolulu), Waikiki (Diamond Head end), Aloha Tower Marketplace (Mauka), Pearlridge Center Uptown (near Borders), Kailua Business District, Iroquois Lagoon Yacht Club, Hickam AFB Exchange Food Court, Schofield Barracks Burger King and Popeye’s dining area, Schofield Barracks Exchange, Upper Kapahulu and Kona (Alii Drive).

The hotspot locations will be expanding, so you can look for more zones soon in Ala Moana Park, Ala Moana Center’s third floor, Ala Wai Yacht Harbor and the area between Ward Centre and Ward Multiplex. There are also plans to roll out more Speed Zones on the Neighbor Islands. If you’re not a Road Runner subscriber, you can still access the Speed Zones for a charge of $2.95 per hour (with half-day and weekly plans available).

“Road Runner subscribers can access the fastest Internet service in Hawaii without using their modem,” says Alan Pollock, vice president of marketing at Oceanic Time Warner Cable. “Our goal is to create free Road Runner Speed Zones through out the Islands while using customer feedback to help us plan where the next Speed Zones should be. Speed Zones is another of the many added value features compliments of Road Runner High Speed Online.”

Beginning June 4 you can log on to rr.speedzone.com to find a map that identifies all the Speed Zones in the state.

As you’re using a Speed Zone, you can sit back and listen to your favorite music on RR Radio. There are 52 channels (from Music Choice) of commercial-free music, and all you need to listen is Windows Media Player (PC) or Flip4Mac (Mac) - both free downloads.

After you’re relaxed and listening to your music, know that Road Runner’s Safe Storage provides you with a sense of security by providing you data storage (up to 500 MB) at no charge. This may be a small amount of space, but it’s good for your most-treasured files (i.e. pictures, irreplaceable documents or your favorite songs).

If you’re spending loads of money on your current long distance bill, you may want to think about subscribing to Oceanic’s home phone service (especially if you already have Road Runner Internet). You can reach your friends and family on the Neighbor Islands, Mainland and Canada unlimited for $39.95 a month. The features include three-way calling, call waiting, caller ID, call forwarding and speed dialing, and you can use your existing phone number. For emergencies, you can still dial 911. The enhanced 911 automatically transmits your address and phone number to emergency services. If you order Oceanic home phone service this month your plan will only be $29.10 a month for an entire year. Now that’s a great deal!

You may remember me writing about Road Runner’s PhotoShow, the way to share photos and videos on TV (channel 917) for Oceanic’s Digital Cable subscribers. PhotoShow Deluxe helps you automatically locate and manage all of the photos and videos on your computer, and touch up your photos and videos with ease. You can easily create your own personalized website or musical slideshow for PhotoShowTV. And you can view our very own MidWeek Pa’ina photos there too.

For more information on the services mentioned above and more, check out www.hawaii.rr.com

Foldable Lap Protection While Out And About

You may remember me writing about The Lapinator in one of my previous columns. It’s a wonderful laptop accessory, and I still use it on a daily basis with my MacBook Pro as long as I’m at home. If I’m out and about, it’s a little too bulky to be carrying around with me all over. A similar product that immediately caught my eye at MacWorld, was the LapWorks Laptop Desk 2.0. Right away I noticed that it seemed a bit more versatile than The Lapinator since it can bend and fold into different positions.

The LapWorks Laptop Desk 2.0 fits flat across your lap or folds in half, and sits at an angle and operates as a desktop stand. Doing this raises your laptop three inches from your desk (or lap) and allows air to circulate under it. There are five different ergonomically comfortable typing angles you can adjust to suit your needs, not to mention you can use your computer easier when you’re lying in bed or on the couch all relaxed.

Field tests done by LapWorks show that the Laptop Desk 2.0 cools laptops by 15 to 20 percent, probably partially because of the built-in ventilation channels. The whole thing measures in at about 20 inches unfolded and 11 inches folded, so it can fit into your laptop bag or in a nook in your desk. It comes in black/black or black/gray and sells for $29.95.
If you insist on using a mouse, you can attach the Mouz Pad. It snaps right onto the Laptop Desk 2.0 and gives you a six-by-nine-inch area of space to use your mouse. This sells for $9.95.

A sister product I saw displayed along with the Laptop Desk 2.0 is LapWorks’ Laptop Legs. It’s a pair of two support legs that elevate the back end of your laptop. The legs attach to the bottom of any laptop with peel and stick adhesive. Each leg has two fold-down feet – the smaller foot elevates the back of the laptop one inch, and the second foot raises it 1-3/8-inches. The small foot has a large rubber pad for gripping onto your desk. With its seven-gram weigh-in it hardly adds any weight to your computer (that’s way lighter than my vetenarian-certified ‘tubby’ 37-gram parrot). The legs can support up to 15 pounds of constant pressure, and tested to fail at about 40 pounds. If you exceed that, then your warranty is voided. Although this proves effective, Nothing against LapWorks, but I personally did not choose to stick the legs on my computer because I just don’t like sticking adhesives on anything I own. You can buy the legs for $24.95.

Whether you use the Laptop Desk 2.0 or the legs, either one will help you and your laptop. When you type on a flat surface it forces you to move your elbows away from your body to position your hands comfortably for typing. Doing this makes your back and shoulder muscles fatigued. Elevating your laptop helps ventilate it and provides you with better ergonomics while typing.

In honor of Mother’s Day, LapWorks will donate two dollars from every purchase of $29.95 or more during this month of May to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. All products mentioned above can be found at www.lapworks.net. Make sure to enter the promo code 2CURE to make sure your donation goes through.

The LapWorks Laptop Desks have become so popular that it wanted to give back to the community. “We are fortunate that our Laptop Desks have become the best-selling lap desks in America, so we wanted to give back to a worthy cause and chose the fight against breast cancer,” said Jose Calero, LapWorks’ president.

NETGEAR's Digital Entertainer HD

When I was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year, I remember seeing NETGEAR’s Digital Entertainer HD (EVA8000), because it was chosen as a finalist for CNET’s Best of CES Awards. It’s a media streamer that can take just about any audio or video format from your computer to view it on your high-definition home entertainment system (supporting resolutions up to 1080p). It’s a fighter against Apple’s iTV.

The Digital Entertainer HD automatically discovers HD movies, TV shows, audio files and photos on your network or computers/servers, and organizes them into a single media library on your TV without the need for media server software running on your computer. You can stream Internet TV (i.e. YouTube), play Internet radio or view pictures (i.e. Flickr) onto your TV.

"Consumers have been waiting for the ultimate entertainment solution to bring PC and Internet multimedia content to their HDTV,” said Vivek Pathela, NETGEAR's vice president of product marketing. “Our Digital Entertainer HD is the most advanced digital media device to do so, offering robust capabilities, a user-friendly interface, and an elegant design. We designed it to give consumers the freedom to experience their collection of digital multimedia files in a way that takes full advantage of the latest HDTV technology and home entertainment systems."

Using the included remote, you can search your entire library with multiple criteria – title, actor, date, genre or thumbnail images from photos, album art or DVD covers. If your computer has an optional TV tuner installed, you can schedule recordings and pause/rewind live broadcasts without the need for a DVR device. If you happen to have multiple Digital Entertainers in your home, the “Follow Me” feature lets you pause a video in one room and resume it in another. In “Party Mode” you can synchronize your music playback for whole-home listening.

You’ll have access to created, downloaded and purchased content on Windows Media Connect. EVA8000 can also stream many unprotected file formats from Macs, Linux machines, iPods, flash drives and other portable music and video players. Specific formats include audio: MP3, WAV, WMA, WMA-Pro, FLAC, M4A, AAC, AC, M4P; video: MPEG 1/2/4, WMV, XviD, H.264; images: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF. The Digital Entertainer HD also supports multiple interoperability standards including Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnPAV), Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) and Microsoft Windows Media DRM 10 for Network Devices. As far as wireless, WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK are also supported.

I think the Digital Entertainer HD will be most appreciated for those who need/want advanced capability. Physically, it’s a little big – about the size of a DVD player. NETGEAR’s Digital Entertainer HD is fun to play with, especially if you’re a tech-savvy media geek. It retails for $399 - for more information and a complete list of retailers, check out www.netgear.com.

Design Your Own Laptop Bag With Timbuk2

I’m picky about the laptop bags I choose because I make sure they look good and provide adequate padding to my computer. Our friend Russ Kaya (and MidWeek layout artist) told my husband and I about Timbuk2. No, I’m not talking about the African city or the backup software. It’s a company that makes cool-looking bags that you can design yourself.

The one I have my eye on is the Laptop Messenger Bag since it comes with a nice padded laptop sleeve to protect my computer. After you click on the link it gives you the option between small (fits 12-inch laptops/$120), medium (15-inch/$130) or large (17-inch/$140). You then choose your material - ballistic nylon (higher sheen, brighter colors, smoother finish) or cordura (fine weave, matte finish, traditional look favored by outdoor enthusiasts). Next is my favorite part where you choose the colors. You have a variety to choose from for the left, center and right panels of the bag. You can also select the color of your bag’s liner and logo that goes on the outside. Decide between reflector tails or tabs to make yourself more visible in the dark.

In a right-handed world, you left-handers have the option to pick a left-handed strap! Extras you can add-on (for additional charges) includes a strap pad ($10), accessory case ($20), cell phone holster ($15), strap pouch ($15) or a smartphone case ($20). At any time during your customization you can change the viewing angle to the front, left, right, back or the inside (default view is the front).

As far as using the build-your-own option, you can also do this with the Messenger bag (sizes x-small/$80 through x-large/$120) or the Market Tote (sizes small/$65 through large/$85). Otherwise Timbuk2 has a variety of other eye-catching bags you can pick from, including a bunch of girlie styles that will match your personality. In fact, my second choice is the Marina Computer Bag. It has a more feminine look and can fit a 15-inch (or smaller) laptop along with enough room for your power cord, mouse and other miscellaneous items. It comes with a rubberized bottom, exterior zippered organizer pockets and no-slip shoulder handles. Unfortunately this one is not customizable.

I can see these bags being popular among the artsy crowd. If you have that creative streak, the Artist’s Canvas Bag has your name written all over it. It’s a completely blank canvas bag (or middle panel canvas with two outer black panels) that you can paint on yourself. Timbuk2’s website has an artist’s gallery where you can see what others have done with their bags. I can see Russ doing this since he has great artistic talent. But for people like me without that ability, I’m satisfied with the pretty colors and nice fabric.

Build a bag of your own www.timbuk2.com. If you want to give this as a fun gift, see the Bag In A Box option – a $100 gift card is packaged in a distinctive box. Regular gift cards are also available in custom specified amounts.

Escaping An Abusive Relationship

Okay, this is a little heavy, but I feel the need to address this issue since it hits so close to home . . . domestic violence. Although slightly different situations, the recent shootings at Virginia Tech brought back a flurry of awful memories that happened to me years ago as a victim of domestic violence. People may think this would be a hush-hush issue for me to talk about, but I am not ashamed to admit it. I am just glad to be a survivor, and I want to help others get out of their abusive situations.

With that in mind, this topic is obviously too broad to cover in one column, but I would just like to share with you some important points from a technology point of view. There are 45,000 reported cases of domestic violence in Hawaii (and I’m sure thousands more unreported - I would have been one of the unreported ones). I’m pounding this into your heads – GET OUT if you’re being physically abused! Don’t wait till it’s too late. The key point is covering your tracks while planning your escape.

The Internet is a great resource for you to find out the information you require to flee, but also remember that it can be used against you too. Your abuser is filled with insecurities and control issues. Count on him/her checking your Internet browsing history, cache and e-mails. Make sure you clear the history, empty the cache and delete e-mails you don’t want him/her to see. Keep in mind doing this may not be totally effective against a persistent technologically-savvy stalker. There are ways someone can retrieve back this info you thought you deleted (i.e. with spyware). Probably the safest way to do your planning is at the public library or elsewhere (i.e. your friend’s or family member’s computer).

I would also suggest creating another e-mail account just so you can communicate with key people for your escape. Chances are your abuser forces you to give him/her your e-mail password to snoop through it, so creating a whole new account they don’t know about will save you tons of agony. You can easily create a free account with Yahoo!, Hotmail, or Gmail.

As with the Internet, cell phones can help or hurt you. Make sure you make your phone calls discreetly – use a phone where you cannot be tracked by your abuser such as on a payphone or from work. Another thing to keep in mind is that your cordless phone calls (land line) could possibly be overheard from other wireless devices such as a baby monitor or other cordless phones. Be careful with the redials too . . . I found out my ex was doing this when one of my friends received an immediate callback and told me she received a call from my phone number immediately after we hung up.

With phones beware of GPS. It can be a great tool to locate your children but it can also be used against you. A good example is the Sprint Family Locator Service. Sprint has been putting GPS receivers into every one of their phones since January 2002. Their system uses 24 satellites to triangulate your position. Good if you’re trying to find your child, but very bad if you’re trying to stay low-key from your abuser. With this, you have to be within the coverage area, and the phones need to be on.

A final item to keep in mind is a hidden camera. These days cameras can be so small, and one may be hidden in your own house and you wouldn’t know. Your abuser could be watching you, and you wouldn’t know it. With this available, it adds even more power and control at their fingertips.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and to those of you don’t know, this might sound like dramatic paranoid stuff you would see in the movies, but I can tell you first-hand that this is 100% real. If you are in critical danger, do not hesitate to call 911. Never mind what people may think of you, it’s not worth your life. If you need to escape and require a shelter, call the Hawaii Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s 24-hour shelter hotline at 841-0822 (Town/Leeward) or 526-2200. For additional resources, check out their website at www.hscadv.org.

Don’t be afraid to ask your friend/co-worker if you suspect something isn’t right. This is a very serious issue and you may just be the link to them finding them help. And likewise, if you’re in it, don’t be afraid to take the assistance.